Composite Stone Relief

Queen Maya of Shakya and the birth of Siddhartha Gautama

24 karat Fine Gold, 18 karat Green Gold, also Rose and White Gold.

Pearls, Carnelian cabochons and Lapis Lazuli

(cast powdered stone, from a copper repoussé mold)

Size: 20 cms / 8 inches dia.

Queen Māyā of Sakya (Māyādevī) was the birth mother of the historical Gautama Buddha, and sister of Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī the first Buddhist nun. "Māyā" means "illusion" or "enchantment" in Sanskrit and Pāli. Māyā is also called Mahāmāyā ("Great Māyā") and Māyādevī ("Queen, literally a female-deva, 'goddess,' Māyā"). Queen Mayadevi was born in the Devadaha kingdom of Nepal and Siddhartha Gautama in Lumbini.

Śakyamuni Buddha

with 8 Auspicious Symbols and 12 Signs of the Zodiac

gilded copper repoussé with fine gold leaf, and green and white gold leaf.

Outer ring from top (clockwise): Monkey, Ox, Pig, Dog, Tiger, Goat, Horse, Snake, Dragon, Rooster, Rabbit, Rat.

Embossed Copper Repoussé Banner Plaque

Vaiśravana  - Dzambala  -  Vessavaṇa 

43.5 cm x 38.5 cm x 4.5  (17" x 15")

1.3 kg

24kt fine goldleaf on 18kt green and 12kt white gold

Vaiśravana (Sanskrit वैश्रवण) - 

a.k.a. Dzambala  ( Tibetan རྣམ་ཐོས་སྲ )

or Vessavana (Pāli वेस्सवण, Sinhala වෛශ්‍රවණ)

                    Originating in the Vedas as the deity Kubera, (or King of the North and the God of Wealth), the Buddhist Vessavana or the more commonly known Vaiśravana later became known as Dzambala in Tibet and Bishamonten in Japan. Easily recognized by the mongoose on his lap that vomits wish-fulfilling gems.  

The surrounds are 23kt red and yellow gold: clockwise from top middle: Wish-fulfilling Gem, Apsara, Dragon, Elephant, Snow-Lion, Apsara, Kirtimukha, Apsara, Tiger, Windhorse, Garuda, Apsara.

The rods and rod finials are finished in copper, aluminium and a copper-zinc alloy metal-leaf.

Download pdf Vaisravana fact sheet

Vaiśravaṇa (Sanskrit वैश्रवण) or Vessavaṇa (Pāli वेस्सवण,Sinhala වෛශ්‍රවණ) also known as Jambhala, is the name of the chief of the Four Heavenly Kings and an important figure in Buddhist mythology.

The name Vaiśravaṇa is derived from the Sankrit viśravaṇa "Great Fame".

Vaiśravaṇa is also known as Kubera (Sanskrit) or Kuvera (Pāli), and as Jambhala (Sanskrit). 

Other names include:

§                     多聞天 (simplified characters: 多闻天): Chinese Duō Wén Tiān, Korean Damun Cheonwang (다문천왕), Japanese Tamonten. The characters mean "Much hearing god" or "Deity who hears much".

§                     毘沙門天: Chinese Píshāmén Tiān, Japanese Bishamonten. This is a representation of the sound of the Sanskrit name in Chinese (Vaiśravaṇ → Pishamen) plus the character for "heaven" or "god".

§                     Tibetan: རྣམ་ཐོས་སྲས (rnam.thos.sras [Namthöse])

§                     Thai: ท้าวกุเวร or ท้าวเวสสุวรรณ (Thao Kuwen or Thao Vessuwan)

                    The character of Vaiśravaṇa is founded upon the Hindu deity Kubera, but although the Buddhist and Hindu deities share some characteristics and epithets, each of them has different functions and associated myths. Although brought into East Asia as a Buddhist deity, Vaiśravaṇa has become a character in folk religion and has acquired an identity that is partially independent of the Buddhist tradition (cf. the similar treatment of Kuan Yin and Yama).

Vaiśravaṇa is the guardian of the northern direction, and his home is in the northern quadrant of the topmost tier of the lower half of Mount Sumeru. He is the leader of all the yakṣas who dwell on the Sumeru's slopes.

He is often portrayed with a yellow face. He is also sometimes displayed with a mongoose, often shown ejecting jewels from its mouth. The mongoose is the enemy of the snake, a symbol of greed or hatred; the ejection of jewels represents generosity.

                    In the Pāli scriptures of the Theravāda Buddhist tradition, Vaiśravaṇa is called Vessavaṇa. Vessavaṇa is one of the Cātummahārājāno, or four Great Kings, each of whom rules over a specific direction. Vessavaṇa's realm is the northern quadrant of the world, including the land of Uttarakuru. According to some suttas, he takes his name from a region there called Visāṇa; he also has a city there called Ālakamandā which is a byword for wealth. Vessavaṇa governs the yakkhas – beings with a nature between 'fairy' and 'ogre'.

                    Vessavaṇa's wife is named Bhuñjatī, and he has five daughters, Latā, Sajjā, Pavarā, Acchimatī, and Sutā. He has a nephew called Puṇṇaka, a yakkha, husband of the nāga woman Irandatī. He has a chariot called Nārīvāhana. His weapon was the gadāvudha (Sanskrit: gadāyudha), but he only used it before he became a follower of the Buddha.

                    Vessavaṇa has the name "Kuvera" from a name he had from a past life as a rich brahmin mill-owner, who gave all the produce of one of his seven mills to charity, and provided alms to the needy for 20,000 years. He was reborn in the Cātummahārājikā heaven as a reward for these good kammas.

                    As with all the Buddhist deities, Vessavaṇa is properly the name of an office (filled for life) rather than a permanent individual. Each Vessavaṇa is mortal, and when he dies, he will be replaced by a new Vessavaṇa. Like other beings of the Cātummahārājika world, his lifespan is 90,000 years (other sources say nine million years). Vessavaṇa has the authority to grant the yakkhas particular areas (e.g., a lake) to protect, and these are usually assigned at the beginning of aVessavaṇa's reign.

                    When the Buddha was born, Vessavaṇa became his follower, and eventually attained the stage of sotāpanna (Sanskrit: srotaāpanna, one who has only seven more lives before enlightenment). He often brought the Buddha and his followers messages from the gods and other humans, and protected them. He presented to the Buddha the Āṭānāṭā verses, which Buddhists meditating in the forest could use to ward off the attacks of wild yakkhas or other supernatural beings who do not have faith in the Buddha. These verses are an early form of paritta chanting.

Bimbisāra, King of Magadha, after his death was reborn as a yakkha called Janavasabha in the retinue of Vessavaṇa.

In the early years of Buddhism, Vessavaṇa was worshipped at trees dedicated to him as shrines. Some people appealed to him to grant them children.

                    In Japan, Bishamonten (毘沙門天), or just Bishamon (毘沙門) is thought of as an armor-clad god of warfare or warriors and a punisher of evildoers – a view that is at odds with the more pacific Buddhist king described above. Bishamon is portrayed holding a spear in one hand and a small pagoda in the other hand, the latter symbolizing the divine treasure house, whose contents he both guards and gives away. In Japanese folklore, he is one of the Japanese Seven Gods of Fortune.

Bishamon is also called Tamonten (多聞天), meaning "listening to many teachings" because he is the guardian of the places where Buddha preaches. He lives half way down the side of Mount Sumeru.

                    In Tibet, Vaiśravaṇa is considered a worldly dharmapāla or protector of the Dharma, a member of the retinue of Ratnasambhava. He is also known as the King of the North. As guardian of the north, he is often depicted on temple murals outside the main door. He is also thought of as a god of wealth. As such, Vaiśravaṇa is sometimes portrayed carrying a citron, the fruit of the jambhara tree, a pun on another name of his, Jambhala (in Tibetan pronunciation Dzambala or Zambala). The fruit helps distinguish him iconically from depictions of Kuvera. He is sometimes represented as corpulent and covered with jewels. When shown seated, his right foot is generally pendant and supported by a lotus-flower on which is a conch shell. His mount is a snow lion.

Nam Te Se. (རྣམ་ཐོས་སྲས་ or རྣམ་སྲས་) is not Dzambala. Nam Te is the king, and Dzambala is one of his ranking ministers. Nam Te Se has eight ranks, and Dzambala is one of these ranks.

Tibetan Buddhists consider Jambhala's sentiment regarding wealth to be providing freedom by way of bestowing prosperity, so that one may focus on the path or spirituality rather than on the materiality and temporality of that wealth.

Copper Repoussé Plaque

Avalokiteśvara 1000 armed

24kt pure goldleaf, 23kt red gold, 22kt black gold, 18kt green gold, 12kt white gold

11 inches x 13.5 inches

                    Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig (tib.) is the patron deity of Tibet. The Tibetan people even claim descent from Avalokiteshvara, who in the form of a monkey, is said to have sired the original inhabitants of the Roof of the World. Shakyamuni Buddha prophesied that Avalokiteshvara would subdue its barbarous inhabitants and lead them along the path to enlightenment. Taking miraculous birth from a shaft of light from the heart of Amitabha Buddha which then transformed into a radiant lotus, and it is from within this lotus that the four armed incarnation of Avalokiteshvara was discovered.

The four-armed holds a wish-fulfilling gem in his palms, as well as a rosary and lotus. The thousand-armed also holds a water-pot, a bow for firing arrows, the wheel of dharma, and the mudra of bestowing realizations.

Avalokiteshvara has been identified with, among others, King Songtsen Gampo, Padmasambhava, Dromtonpa (Atisha's disciple), the Gyalwa Karmapa, and the Dalai Lamas.

On completing a meditation retreat, the Boddhisattva realized that he had only helped a very small number of beings, and thus in his disappointment his head split into ten pieces and his body into a thousand. Amitabha restored the broken body into a thousand hands, each with its own wisdom eye, and the shattered pieces of his head into 10 faces, nine of them peaceful and one wrathful, so that he could look compassionately in all directions simultaneously. Amitabha was so pleased with his heart-son Avalokiteshvara that he crowned the ten faces with a replica of himself.

The embodiment of infinite compassion, white in color, Avalokiteshvara seeks to dispel the suffering of all beings. With his compassionate gaze, Avalokiteshvara looks upon beings in all realms of existence with the wish that they be free of suffering. His mantra is: OM MANI PADME HUM.